Steering wheel with spark and throttle control



June 19, 1928.

H. D. GEY ER STEERING WHEEL WITH .SPARK AND THROTTLE CONTROL Filed June 1, 1925 2 Sheeti-Sheet 1 gmmtoc June 19, 1928.

H. D; GEYER STEERING WHEEL WITH SPARK AND THROTTLE CONTROL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 1, 1925 Patented June 19, 192 8.

HARVEY D. GEYER, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

STEERING WHEEL WITH SPARK AND THROTTLE CONTROL.

Application filed June 1, 1925. Serial No. 34,496.

This invention relates to the manual control mechanism for automotive vehicles, and especially to such controls adapted for the manual adjustment of the engine throttle valve and the ignition timer.

An object of the invention is to provide a common manual means for adjusting the position of two separate engine controls, such for instance as the ignition timer and the engine throttle valve. In present-day automobiles, some form of speed-controlled automatic spark control is usually provided, and in addition to such automatic control, some form of manual spark control is provided for use at certain times, such as when starting the engine or when the load on the engine varies greatly from its normal load. This manual spark control, therefore, is manipulated comparatively infrequently. An object of this invention is to provide a manual control which may be readily manipulated by the operator to control the throttle position, but when desired this same manual means may be shifted to a position where the spark may be control-led thereby. More specifically, it is an object to provide a hand knob which may be merely rotated to control the throttle, but which may be slightly depressed and then rotated to control the spark. Of course, each is controlled without the movement of the other. Another object is to' mount this common control means for both throttle and spark at the central portion of the'steering wheel,

thus eliminating the two levers ordinarily found mounted upon the steering wheel.

Another object is to provide a horn button which is vertically reciprocable within the hand knob to open and close the horn switch.

Another object is to provide for rotating the horn button corresponding to the movement of the spark control, whereby a suitable index on the horn button indicates the position of the spark at all times.

A further object is to provide simple and and efficient mechanism for carrying out the aboveobjects.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

F ig. 1 is a plan View of the central portion of a steering wheel and control mechanism,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the rotatable tube and shows the horn button mounted thereupon so as to be rotated with the rotatable tube but capable of independent vertical movement.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the wooden portion of the horn button.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lever argi rigidly secured to the throttle control tu e.

Fig 7 is a perspective view of the clutch. member attached to the hand knob.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the upper friction plate.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the lower friction plate.

Fi 10 is a plan view of the lever member rigidly secured to the spark control tube.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the flange ring secured to the stationary guide tube.

In the drawings similar reference characters refer to similar parts. Only the central portion 10 of a steering wheel is shown in the drawings, since this clearlyv discloses the relative arrangement of the mechanism of the invention to a steering wheel. This steering wheel hub 10 has a tapered bore 11 for fitting over a corresponding tapered tubular steering shaft (not shown) and being keyed thereto in a well-known manner. A stationary tube 12 projects through the tubular steering shaft and into the recess 13 in the upper central part of hub 10. A stationary cup 15 is rigidly secured to tube 12 by means of a split hub and screw 14 in a manner well known. A stationary guide tube 16 is rigidly secured to the cup 15 by fitting snugly within the circular upstanding flange 17 on the bottom of cup 15. A spark control tube 20 extends through the stationary tube 12 and projects beyond its periphery of head 21, and is attached thereto by sultable means- It will now be clear that tube 23, head 21 and spark control tube 20 are all connected and are rotatable to gether within the stationary tube 16, stationary cup 1.5 and stationary tube 12. The head 21 has a laterally extending lug 25 which projects through a suitable notch 26 in tube 23 and also through an arcuate slot 27 in the stationary guide tube 16. This lug 25 serves as the lever by which the spark control tube 20 is rotated by means presently described.

A throttle control tube 30 extends through the tube 20 and projects beyond its upper end. To this projecting end of tube 30 is rigidly clamped the throttle-actuating lever arm 31 by means of a split hub and clamping screw 32. The outer end of lever arm 31 projects through the arcuate slot 33 in the rotatable tube 23 and the similar arcuate slot 34 in the stationary tube 16. The arcuate slot 34 is sufficiently long to permit the desired angular movement of the throttle lever 31. The arcuate slot 33 is sufiiciently long to permit the desired angular movement of the rotating tube 23, while lever 31 remains stationary in any one of its possible positions. It is thus seen that throttle lever 31 or the spark lever 25 may each be rotated without any corresponding movement of the other. In order to prevent the hubs of these levers 31 and 25 from rubhing together and thus causing a tendency of the two to turn together, the stationary friction plate 35 is provided (see Fig. 9). This friction plate 35 fits loosely around the throttle tube 30 and is positively held against rotation by having a lug 36 thereon extending through aperture 37 in the stationary guide tube 16. An arcuate slot 38 must be provided in the rotatable tube 23 in which the stationary lug 36 rides when tube 23 is rotated.

The means for selectively actuating the throttle lever 31 or the spark lever 25 will now be described. A hand knob 40 of suitable size to be grasped in the palm of the hand, is mounted so as to be guided in its vertically reciprocating movement of the stationary guide tube 16. A flange 41 on the under side of the knob 40 has an easy fit in the cup 15. A clutch ring 42 is rigidly secured to the bottom portion of flange 41 by any suitable means. This clutch ring 42 has a series of notches or recesses 43 on its upper edge and a similar series of notches 44 on its lower edge (see Fig. 7). A coil spring 45 urges the knob 40 and the attached clutch ring 42, upwardly until clutch ring 42 abuts against the angle ring 46 which is rigidly attached to the stationary tube 16,

all as clearly illustrated in- Fig. 2. When clutch ring 42 is in its upmost position, as shown in Fig. 2, the throttle lever 31 falls into one of the upper notches 43 on the clutch ring 42. It will now be clear that the operator may. rotate the throttle control tube 30 by rotating the hand knob 40. If, however, the operator depresseshand knob 40 against the urge of coil spring 45 until clutch ring 42 abuts the upper surface of the circular flange 17, the spark lever 25 will fall into one of the lower notches 44 on clutch ring 42. The rotation of hand knob 40 in its depressed position will obviously rotate the spark control tube 20 without affecting the position of the throttle tube 30, since clutch ring 42 disengages throttle lever 31 just before it engages the spark lever 25.

The horn button 50, preferably of wood, is rigidly secured to a metallic ring 51 which has four depending guide lugs 52 which ride 1n the corresponding slots 53 in the rotatable tube 23 as the horn button is pressed downwardly by the operator. A coil spring 54 normally holds the horn button 50 in its up position against the inturned flange 16 on the stationary guide tube 16. The in sulated electric wire 55 leading from the electric horn, passes through the inner tube 30 and is secured to an insulated contact member 56 mounted in the upper end of tube 30. A movable contact member 57 attached to horn button 50 is guided in its vertical movement by the small metallic guide block 58 which is held centered and pressed down upon the upper end of tube 30'by the small coil spring 59. Now, when horn button 50 is depressed by the operator the movable contact member 57 moves into electrical contact with contact member 56 and thus grounds wire 55 through member 57 guide block 58 and tube 30' to the car chassis.

It will be obvious that when the rotatable tube 23 is rotated by the movement of the spark lever 25, the horn button 50 is rotated therewith by the engagement of lugs 52 in the slots 53. Hence the horn button may be provided with an index pointer 60 on its top surface which is at all times in fixed relation to the spark lever 25 and will, therefore, indicate the position of said spark lever at all times without in any way interfering with the vertical movement of the horn button for opening and closing the horn circuit. Preferably the advance and retard positions of this pointer 60 are indicated on the top of the stationary flange 16, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The lower end of coil spring 54 bears upon the upper friction plate (see Fig. 8), which is thus urged in frictional contact with the hub of throttle lever 31. The yieldable pressure of spring 54 also urges the hub of lever 31, the lower friction plate 35, and the head 21 downwardly, being limited by the head 21 bearing upon the bottom of the stationary cup 15. It is thus seen that both the throttle lever 31 and the spark lever 25 attached to the head 21, are held firmly in position by this friction means when said levers are not being moved by the manipulation of hand knob 40, as described above. Since the lower friction plate 35 is held against rotation by its lug 36 engaging in aperture 37 in stationary tube 16, there will be no tendency of the throttle lever to drag the spark lever With it when the throttle lever is being operated by the hand knob, or vice versa.

This invention eliminates the usual spark and throttlelevers mounted upon the steering wheel, and substitutes therefor a single hand knob at the center of the wheel which is very easily actuated by the operator and which is of much more pleasing appearance than the usual projecting throttle and spark levers.

WVhile the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

\Vhat is claimed is as follows:

1. In a hand control mechanism for a vehicle propelled by an internal-combustion engine, in combination, means for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, means for controlling the time of ignition, a steering wheel for steering the vehicle, a hand knob reciprocably mounted above the hub of said steering wheel and arranged to selectively engage either of said control means and rotatable when in one position to actuate said first means and rotatable when in another position to actuate said second means.

2. In a hand control mechanism for a vehicle propelled by an internal-combustion engine, in combination, means for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, means for controlling the time of ignition, a steering wheel for steering the vehicle, a hand knob reciprocably mounted above the hub of said steering wheel and arranged to selec tively engage either of said control means and rotatable when in one position to actuate said first means and rotatable when in another position to actuate said second means, and indicating means mounted within said knob for indicating to the operator the position of the spark.

3. In a control mechanism for an automotive vehicle, in combination, a steering wheel having a recess in its upper central portion, actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, second actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the spark advance of the engine, and a manual control member movable by the operator to selectively engage and actuate either of said actuating linkages.

4. In a control mechanism for an automotive vehicle, in combination, a steering wheel having a recess in its upper central portion, actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, second actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the spark advance of the engine, and a hand knob movable by the operator to selectively actuate either of said actuating linkages.

5. In a control mechanism for an automotive vehicle, in combination, a steering wheel having a recess in its upper central portion, actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, second actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the spark advance of the engine, and a ver tically reciprocable hand knob mounted at the center of said wheel and movable by the operator to selectively engage and .actuate either of said actuating linkages.

6. In a control mechanism for an automotive vehicle, in combination, a steering wheel having a recess in its upper central portion, actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the fuel charge to the engine, second actuating linkage extending into said recess for controlling the spark advance of the engine, and a hand' control member vertically movable by the operator to selectively engage either of said linkages and revoluble to operate the engaged linkage.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

HARVEY D. GEYER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1, 673,870. Granted June 19, 1928, to

HARVEY D. GEYER.

It is hereby certified that the above numbered patent was erroneously issued to the inventor whereas said patent should have issued to The Inland Manufacturing Company, of Dayton, Ohio, a Corporation of Delaware, as assignee of the entire interest in said Letters Patent as shown by the records of assignments in this office; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may coniorm to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 2nd day of October, A. D. 1928.

M. J. Moore, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

